cherry blossoms || ot7 [#Wattys2017]

[house of cards]

The shadow transforms into a body and the body happens to be: "Baekhyun?" Taehyung's voice sounds confused as well as shocked. However, out of all the emotions he's feeling, he recognizes one immediately: happiness. He's actually happy to see Baekhyun. Taehyung knows he should be angry with him because he lied to him, but all he remembers are the good times he had with Baekhyun and to be honest, he's really not that angry with him specifically. Initially, he thought it was Baekhyun's fault and as he humored the idea, he realizes that he really didn't do anything wrong.

As the familiar face looks down at him, Taehyung leaps up and hugs his hyung. "Baekhyun!"

Baekhyun is taken aback by the sign of affection but he's glad that Taehyung is talking to him again and returns the hug. "Annyeong Taehyung. How're you today?"

"I'm so happy! And I'm even happier now that you're here! I kinda wished that I invited you here, but now here you are! You can join us for the rest of the day! We're going to go eat lunch soon." He looks at all his hyungs who're sleeping and he smiles embarrassedly towards Baekhyun. "I mean, once they wake up that is. I'm sure my hyungs wouldn't mind! Seokjin hyung said the more the merrier!" He jumps up and down. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

"Jimin likes to post a lot on social media," Baekhyun smirks. "And he also texted me. So I decided to pop by. I mean, Incheon isn't that far from Seoul anyways. I figured I'd find you at the beach since you liked it the first time."

Taehyung flashes back to the first time him and Baekhyun hung out together. Baekhyun pretty much kidnapped him and took him to Songjeong Beach in Busan. Does he regret going? Never. At the time, he thought Baekhyun was his brother and so he got to spend his first time at the beach with his brother; that's something he'll never forget. "I just love the beach! I can't get enough of it."

He chuckles and then immediately, his eyes are clouded with sadness. "Listen, Taehyung...I'm really sorry for not telling you the truth. It's just that I was only doing what I was told. Jungkook..." he hesitates. "Your brother told me a different job description than what I was actually signing up for. I thought I was just gathering intel and that was the end of the line. But then, as I got to know you, I started believing you were my brother and I was going to be fine with that for the rest of my life, but I couldn't be living a lie like that. I want to be like your brother. I want to be like your other hyungs," he looks toward the group of sleeping boys. "I want to protect you like they do; I want to make you happy like they do. I want you to be happy with everything you do. I want to make sure you stay the way you are because you're such a wonderful person who brings joy to everyone's lives. I love you so much and I'm so sorry that I screwed things over the way I did. I'm sorry that I allowed things to go on for so long. Mianhae..." Tears fall from his eyes as he looks down to the ground.

Baekhyun feels thumbs wiping away his tears. "Hyung, it's okay. I forgive you," Taehyung whispers and when Baekhyun looks up, he sees the sincerity in Tae's eyes. "I'm still upset about the whole thing, but I'm not mad at you. You didn't do anything wrong. I love you too. I treat you like my brother and so you are one of my brothers."

Baekhyun sniffles. "Mianhae, mianhae, mianhae..." he repeatedly says.

"Hey, it's okay! No need to beat yourself up over it." Taehyung looks around and spots an ice cream shop. "Tell you what, let's go buy ice cream, my treat." He beams.

Baekhyun laughs a bit. "Shouldn't I be saying that to you, since I'm your hyung?"

"I mean, this situation is kinda backwards, but what do you expect from us?"

"You're right." Baekhyun slings his arm over Taehyung's shoulders.

As they enter the ice cream parlor, they wait in line looking at all the different flavors and toppings. All of the different combinations overwhelms Taehyung and so he goes with something basic. Baekhyun does the same because he doesn't want Taehyung spending too much money. They sit down near the back and just watch all the other people in the store buy, eat, and leave. The silence between the two comforts them and even calms their nerves down.

A man walks towards them and Taehyung looks up to stare at who could it be. "K-Kookie?"

Meanwhile, back on the beach, one by one the hyungs begin to wake up. Seokjin is the first one to wake up out of all of them and he rubs the sleep from his eyes only to add sand on his eyelids. He sleepily rubs it off and starts looking at the younger boys. As he's doing head check, he realizes there's only four boys in front of him; including himself, there's only five of them. One is missing.

Seokjin blinks rapidly as he tries to determine who's missing. He has an inkling feeling of who it could be but he just wants to make sure he's not hallucinating. Namjoon is right next to him; Hoseok is laying on his back with his hat laying on his chest; Yoongi and Jimin are next to each other. Then his suspicions are confirmed: Taehyung is nowhere with them. He shakes Namjoon violently. "Namjoon, wake up. Please, wake up! Taehyung isn't with us."

At the mention of Taehyung's name, Namjoon wakes up. "Wait. What? What do you mean he's not with us?" He sits up and starts looking around, causing the other boys to wake up as well. "Please don't tell me The Rancher found us," he whispers, scared that he's watching them right now.

"That's impossible. He wouldn't have let us live," Yoongi states.

"Then where can this boy be?" Seokjin's instincts kick in and he gets up to start looking for him. He dials Taehyung's phone number only to hear his ringtone right next to Jimin's thigh; he left his phone here. "Jimin, Yoongi: look over there for Taehyung and take his phone with you. Hoseok, Namjoon, and I will look in this direction. Keep your phones opened in case we need to contact you two."

With that, the five boys disperse and walk the vast beach in search for their special maknae. It's around noon now and Yoongi is starting to feel hungry. Actually, all of them are hungry so once they find Taehyung, they're going to get lunch.

"Where could he be?" Jimin mumbles, clutching Taehyung's phone.

"Well, let's think about it logically: where would Taehyung wander off to?" Yoongi pitches in.

"Anywhere with games, music, food, or sweets. Or maybe he went to the bathroom and that's why he didn't take his phone with him." Jimin looks around and takes in the hundreds of people here who decided to enjoy this wonderful spring day at the beach just like them. "Oh my god. Where can this boy be?" I swear, when we find Taehyung and he's injured, I'll never live with myself. I wouldn't be able to live with myself because it'd be my fault. Why do I feel like everything's falling apart right now? Why now?

---------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------